


A Step in the Right Direction

by Charity_Angel



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Aaangst, Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Grief/Mourning, IronDad and SpiderSon, Missing Scene, Tony misses his spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 19:53:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20141071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charity_Angel/pseuds/Charity_Angel
Summary: A (longer) companion toLooking Ahead: Pepper's secret from Tony's POV.





	A Step in the Right Direction

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Looking Ahead](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20085349) by [Charity_Angel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charity_Angel/pseuds/Charity_Angel). 

He kept it together for three whole weeks, fighting to get back to Earth, to Pepper. To make sure that he still had her to come home to (otherwise what was home, now that their Spiderling was gone?). He had kept it together even when the blue cyborg called him an idiot and useless (and boy did he feel it, with all this alien tech he could barely begin to comprehend the workings of). He had almost starved, almost asphyxiated, almost frozen to death out there, in the depths of space. He would have too, if not for the efforts of one Captain Carol Danvers, who returned him to Pepper's arms in the nick of time.

But now he was back, now he wasn't fighting to stay alive, to help Nebula keep the ship from falling apart around them (and failing spectacularly at that), he dwelled. Some might even call it 'brooding'. They had lost. Thanos had won, done exactly what he had said he would. But worst of all, Thanos had taken the kid from him -  _ his _ kid. Peter might not have been his biologically (that he knew of, anyway - Tony had sowed plenty of wild oats back in the day, but the odds were miniscule), but that had never mattered to Tony's heart. He had adored his brilliant baby Spider, who might actually be more of a genius than him and just lacked a rich family to push him through the education system early. Peter Parker, who wore his heart on his sleeve, and fought for the little people, became a hero because he could help. Tony just… he just couldn't…

Pepper was trying to give him space, but there was clearly something on her mind. He just couldn't bring himself to care all that much. Which was awful and selfish, but this was a world that Tony not only couldn't save, but no longer contained his heir. Not that the kid knew that - that Tony had intended to bequeath Stark Industries to him, along with quite a sizeable chunk of his wealth: the part that wasn't going to Pepper and Rhodey and Happy and varying charities.

When Pepper finally decided to tell him what was bothering her, he was thinking about the first weekend Peter had come to work in the lab, all awkward and excited and his mouth running almost as fast as his mind, chattering about whatever ephemeral thing occurred to him. He was completely lost in the thought that he would never have that kind of help again - that level of enthusiastic learning and the capacity to bounce ideas off someone who could keep up with him. So sue him if he didn't quite catch on right away.

"You know that dream you told me about, just before everything started?"

Remembering was like a stab through the heart, because what he hadn't told Pepper was that there hadn't just been a little boy with Pepper's red hair in the dream, but Peter too, all smiles as he played with the baby.

"Yeah?"

He really didn't want to prod too hard at that wound, but Pepper had been working up to this for a couple of days now. It wasn't fair to cut her off just because he was hurting.

"Turns out I was wrong."

Wrong? When was Pepper ever wrong? Pepper was amazing and wonderful and he absolutely did not deserve…

Huh. She'd said no. No baby. And she was wrong? That meant…

"Really?"

She smiled. It was a bit sad - everything was these days. Maybe she knew what he had been thinking after all. But this was something she -  _ they _ \- should be happy about. A baby? A baby was a new beginning, in the ashes of all Thanos' destruction. This was a good thing, even if one child could never erase the loss of their first.

He got up, crossed the lab, and pulled her close to him. She relaxed immediately and hugged him back.

"I love you," he told her, his voice slightly muffled by her shoulder but still perfectly audible. And if he was crying as he said it, well, Pepper had forgiven him for things that were so much worse.

**Author's Note:**

> I have MCU feels rn okay? Not betaed (because I kind of don't have one, and I also have almost no internet and dwindling patience) so let me know if you find anything that needs correcting


End file.
